[[Paul Ryan]] raised the most amount of money of all seven Wisconsin congressional members, with $1.7 million in contributions since January 2013.<ref>[http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/paul-ryan-cashes-in-on-white-house-run-b9967510z1-218312911.html ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' "Paul Ryan cashes in on White House run," Accessed August 5, 2013]</ref>

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Ryan raised the most amount of money of all seven Wisconsin congressional members, with $1.7 million in contributions since January 2013.<ref>[http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/paul-ryan-cashes-in-on-white-house-run-b9967510z1-218312911.html ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' "Paul Ryan cashes in on White House run," Accessed August 5, 2013]</ref>

Based on analysis of multiple outside rankings, Ryan is an average Republican member of Congress, meaning he will vote with the Republican Party on the majority of bills.

Biography

After graduating from Miami University of Ohio, Ryan moved to Washington D.C., where he put his political science degree to use as an aide to Wisconsin Senator Robert Kasten and a speechwriter for deceased former congressman Jack Kemp. Prior to entering Congress in 1999 at age 28, Ryan also worked on the policy staff for a conservative think tank called Empower America.[2][3]

Career

Below is an abbreviated outline of Ryan's academic, professional and political career:[4]

Issues

Presidential preference

Specific votes

Fiscal Cliff

Ryan voted for the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. He was one of 85 Republicans that voted in favor of the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257/167 vote on January 1, 2013.[8]

Immigration reform

On June 6, 2013, Ryan endorsed the House's immigration bill currently being negotiated. This endorsement came only one day after Rep. Raul Labrador (ID-R) left the group of representatives working out the details due to disagreements over benefits for illegal immigrants.[9]

Elections

2012

Ryan won re-election in 2012.[10] He was unopposed in the Republican primary and defeated Democrat Rob Zerban and Libertarian Keith Deschler in the November general election.[11]

While Ryan was selected by Mitt Romney on August 11 to be his running mate, Wisconsin law allowed Ryan to pursue his House re-election at the same time. If Ryan had been elected for both offices, the state would have held a special election to fill his U.S. House seat.[12]

Full history

To view the full congressional electoral history for Paul Ryan, click [show] to expand the section.

2010

On November 2, 2010, Paul Ryan won re-election to the United States House. He defeated John Heckenlively (D) and Joseph Kexel (L) in the general election.[14]

U.S. House, Wisconsin District 1 General Election, 2010

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Paul Ryanincumbent

68.2%

179,819

Democratic

John Heckenlively

30.1%

79,363

Libertarian

Joseph Kexel

1.6%

4,311

N/A

Scattering

0.1%

134

Total Votes

263,627

2008

On November 4, 2008, Paul Ryan won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Marge Krupp (D) and Joseph Kexel (L) in the general election.[15]

U.S. House, Wisconsin District 1 General Election, 2008

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Paul Ryanincumbent

64%

231,009

Democratic

Marge Krupp

34.7%

125,268

Libertarian

Joseph Kexel

1.3%

4,606

N/A

Scattering

0.1%

224

Total Votes

361,107

2006

On November 7, 2006, Paul Ryan won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Jeffrey C. Thomas (D) in the general election.[16]

U.S. House, Wisconsin District 1 General Election, 2006

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Paul Ryanincumbent

62.6%

161,320

Democratic

Jeffrey C. Thomas

37.2%

95,761

N/A

Scattering

0.2%

515

Total Votes

257,596

2004

On November 2, 2004, Paul Ryan won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Jeffrey Chapman Thomas (D), Norman Aulabaugh (I) and Don Bernau (L) in the general election.[17]

U.S. House, Wisconsin District 1 General Election, 2004

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Paul Ryanincumbent

65.4%

233,372

Democratic

Jeffrey Chapman Thomas

32.6%

116,250

Independent

Norman Aulabaugh

1.2%

4,252

Libertarian

Don Bernau

0.8%

2,936

N/A

Scattering

0%

166

Total Votes

356,976

2002

On November 5, 2002, Paul Ryan won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Jeffrey C. Thomas (D) and George Meyers (L) in the general election.[18]

U.S. House, Wisconsin District 1 General Election, 2002

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Paul Ryanincumbent

67.2%

140,176

Democratic

Jeffrey C. Thomas

30.6%

63,895

Libertarian

George Meyers

2.1%

4,406

N/A

Scattering

0.1%

136

Total Votes

208,613

2000

On November 7, 2000, Paul Ryan won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Jeffrey C. Thomas (D) in the general election.[19]

U.S. House, Wisconsin District 1 General Election, 2000

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Paul Ryanincumbent

66.6%

177,612

Democratic

Jeffrey C. Thomas

33.3%

88,885

N/A

Scattering

0.1%

294

Total Votes

266,791

1998

On November 3, 1998, Paul Ryan won election to the United States House. He defeated Lydia Carol Spottswood (D) in the general election.[20]

U.S. House, Wisconsin District 1 General Election, 1998

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Paul Ryan

57.1%

108,475

Democratic

Lydia Carol Spottswood

42.7%

81,164

N/A

Scattering

0.2%

307

Total Votes

189,946

Campaign donors

Comprehensive donor information for Ryan is available dating back to 2000. Based on available campaign finance records, Ryan raised a total of $15,995,498 during that time period. This information was last updated on April 5, 2013.[21]

2013

National Journal vote ratings

2012

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted in the previous year. Ryan was 1 of 2 members who ranked 127th in the conservative rankings in 2012.[29]

2011

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted in the previous year. Ryan was 1 of 3 members of congress who ranked 150th in the conservative rankings.[30]

Voting with party

2013

Paul Ryan voted with the Republican Party 96.2% of the time, which ranked 103 among the 234 House Republican members as of June 2013.[31]

Lifetime missed votes

According to the website GovTrack, Ryan missed 227 of 9,878 roll call votes from January 1999 to April 2013. This amounts to 2.3%, which is worse than the median of 2.1% among current congressional representatives as of April 2013.[32]

Congressional staff salaries

2011

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Ryan paid his congressional staff a total of $858,307 in 2011. Overall, Wisconsin ranks 32nd in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.[33]

Net worth

2011

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Ryan's net worth as of 2011 was estimated between $2,041,092 and $8,415,000. That averages to $5,228,046, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican Representatives in 2011 of $7,859,232. His average net worth increased by 152.92% from 2010.[34]

2010

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Ryan's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $927,100 to $3,207,000. That averages to $2,067,050, which is higher than the average net worth of Republican Representatives in 2010 of $7,561,133.[35]